IBID PROJECTS is pleased to present our third exhibitio
n with Riga-based painterJ
anis Avotinš\, one of the most significant artists of his generati
on to have emerged from the Baltic
region in the past decade. It will be the most extensive display of Avotinš work in the UK to date.

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Janis Avotinš work is sourced from discard
ed magazines from the USSR\, post-warnational picture books and photographs of poets\, artists and intellectu
als in the Soviet Regime. His paint
ings awaken a familiar signifier in the collective memory but neutralize emotion through the articulation of w
hat lay in the absent or invisible part of the canvas\, which suggests a kind of void. The subjects themselves
are a contradiction: although they
have nothing to do with the crimes under communism\, they still served as model Soviets photographed for prop
aganda purposes. Through this new s
eries of work\, Avotinš poeticizes the conflicting relationship to a Soviet
past by translating the historical
photo into the painterly.

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Central to Avotinš technique is the way paint
is applied in thin washes of pale\, bleached colour overlaid with small alternating brushstrokes. Whilst some
of the artist's scenes mimic the l
ook of old\, Soviet-era photographs\, others recall the contemporary appearance of his hometown. Many scenes s
eem to be part or wholly imagined\;
dream-like visions of the past\, or slowly reconstructed memories of friends\, places\, events and situations
.

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His new body of work consists of double portraits of men. The subjects
look on withserious and sometimes
grave facial expressions. They appear to be timeless\, unobtrusive\, conservatively dressed\; melancholy eman
ates from them. Accordingly\, the s
pectrum of thinly applied colors is sparse. The poignant faces of the subje
cts emerge\, while the remaining pa
rts seem to blend into the background.

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Janis Avotinš was born in Latvia in 1981 and lives and works in Riga. Recent solo shows include Janis Avotinš\,
Johnen Galerie\, Berlin\, DE\, Implicated\, Akinci Gallery\, Amsterdam\, NL and Rüdiger Schöttle\, Mu
nich\, DE. Recent group shows include Is It That He Does Not Seek The Truth\, But Does Want To In
fluence?\, Riga Art Space\, Ri
ga\, LT\, After the Fall\, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary A
rt\, NY\, US and Painting Trien
nial\, CAC\, Vilnius\, LT.

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For more information or images\, p
lease contact chelsea@ibidprojects.com